Money Might Keep Mets From Pursuing Oswalt

Every team in baseball would like to add Roy Oswalt to its rotation, but some of them simply won't be able to afford the $33MM left on his contract. The Mets might be one of those clubs according to Mike Puma of The New York Post, who says the team is reluctant to eat even the $1.8MM they owe to Gary Matthews Jr.

The Astros' ace said that he would be willing to waive his no trade clause if the helped the team rebuild. The caveat is that he also wants to go to a "true contender," and it's up to him to decide if the Mets fit the bill. They came into the night 18-17, three games behind the Phillies in the NL East.

Oswalt, 32, has a 2.63 ERA and an 8.4 K/9 in seven starts this year, numbers like what he put up in his mid-to-late 20's. Mets' starters have a 4.25 ERA, basically middle of the back, but Oliver Perez is struggling and Mike Pelfrey recently dealt with some shoulder fatigue. We looked at their top trade chips last month.

haha don’t believe everything you hear. Charles B Wang (owner of the Islanders) spoke to me (in a crowd, not personally) today and said the team is not going to queens, KC, or being sold so forget it.
If the mets office wants to contend, they’ll have to eat Perez contract at some point this year and release him.

I hate to say this my friend, but back in the spring when you were seeing good things ahead for him…well, I tried to tell you. It’s a proven fact that inside every “good Ollie” is a Bad Ollie just waiting to take over! :-((

Am I the only one that fails to see any sort of connection between them “not wanting to eat” the money due to GMJ, and their ability to add other contracts to the payroll? They have nothing to do with each other, they’re separate issues. They don’t save any money by keeping GMJ on the roster as opposed to cutting them. He’s due the same amount of money either way.

Nevermind that his belief that the Mets would eat that money is nothing more then speculation to begin with. Matthews (who yes, sucks) is the only man on the roster, besides Pagan, who can play Centerfield (that’s healthy), and the only real option they have in the minors is Jason Pridie, who isn’t exactly the most accomplished option himself. When Beltran comes back, Matthews will be gone. Until then, he stays. Not that complicated.

As for Oswalt. I like him, the declining peripherials scare me though.

His peripherals haven’t shown any kind of consistent pattern of decline, though, if you’re talking about strikeout rate, walk rate, etc. 2008-2009 were somewhat down years in terms of his results, but his K/BB was just slightly below his career levels, not to any statistically significant amount.

And if you look at ’08-’09 there was one big difference: Miguel Tejada was the shortstop. Now that he has decent defense behind him again his numbers seem to be rebounding.

Couldn’t you replace virtually any team with the Mets in this headline? That’s a lot of scratch for a player like Oswalt.Dealt with injuries last year and an ERA over 4 in the rather pedestrian NL Central. He’s 32 this year and is due to make 2/$33m. I’m not sure who is lining up to take on this contract. Last check $16m/year is pretty spendy. That’s Lackey/Burnett type money. And last check, the Red Sox and Yankees don’t seem to be in a position to drop another $16m for a pitcher. The Mets need him but their payroll is already bloated. Phils don’t have money. Dodgers won’t spend the money. Maybe the Mariners are a possibility – though they should be spending money on a bat.If he continues to deal this year then someone will step up and take that on. I just don’t know who. Also, doubt the Astros get much of anything in return outside of salary relief.

honestly, id rather see Mejia go down to the minors, get stretched out to start…work on his command and off-speed stuff…and come back in September when the rosters expand.

I always thought Omar was going to go this route of trading for a starter if it looked like it would take them over the top. But their hitting woes outweigh their pitching woes by alot now. If by August they have Beltran back in full swing…and either have Francour develop discipline or be replaced by Pagan, I think this alone will solve most of their problems.
they are really missing the balance in their lineup that a switch hitter like Beltran brings.

Moving him into the 4 spot and keeping Davis in the 6 spot and plugging in Wright/Bay in the 3/5 hole gives them a pretty deep lineup. Move Barajas to 7 and Platoon Pagan/Francour at 8 and u have speed and power from 1-8.

From what I’ve seen at Amazin’ Avenue it looks like the Mets should be willing to have Carter take up some of Frenchy’s at bats at well. Would they consider moving Mejiia for 3 years of Oswalt. That seems more like the kind of thing the Yankees would do. Mejiia needs to be free from Mets’ jail, though. They are becoming a national joke with how they are misusing him. Not that this Nationals fan is complaining.

o lord…nationals get on a nice little run and now their little fans are poppin sh*t…
don’t worry, we’ll fire jerry, make mejia a starter so he can strike u out for 7 innings instead of 1 and return the spotlight back to NY before u guys stay over .500 over the course of a full season

Certainly the Mets FO is Team Chaos with their penchant for ugly deals. They are getting close to the point where they going to have to DFA Ollie. I don’t see what pieces if any the Mets have to give up. Fernando Martinez is the name that pops up here but he’s not having that strong a start in the IL and he’s on the DL right now.

In the grand scheme of modern baseball salaries- 33 million is peanuts compared to the money that free agent pitchers get. Its still a hell of a lot of money, but teams have no problem throwing it around and giving an ace pitcher 20 million a year for 4 years.

I’m not sure Oswalt has any value outside of a straight salary dump though. As for Gary Matthews- the Angels ate a ton of money and just got rid of him. That should have been a clear signal what they thought of him.

While it was dreaming on my part, I think Chris Young is owed around 5 mil. So that combined with the money the astros would be sending the padres, it would end up being around 6 mil for the first year i think. But, now that i think about it, since the padres won’t be getting any money the second year i would rather them spend the money for either locking up A-Gon or getting Blanks and Cabrera signed long term.